Ying Quan (Shadow Fist) - M(11), C(8), SD(5), SF(6)
Monk 11 / Cleric 8 / Shadowdancer 5 / Sacred Fist 6 by Steelsamurai 06:51, 3 July 2008 (UTC) Description Wei Ying Quan is currently the dominant melee build in Battle of the Builds. Even my Pointy Stick build is defeated within 7 rounds by this little firecracker. This is the sister build to Yao Quan (Glorious Fist). The goal with this build was to create a build capable of high stealth via HIPS, so capable from striking from the shadows, as well as to have a solid defense that would enable it to go toe to toe with combat oriented builds. I wanted to have something different from what was available out there, and steered away from Epic Divine Might (which is the path that Yao Quan takes). Overall it can be considered as a "Heavy HIPS" build, not afraid of combat and in fact relishing it, using HIPS as an enhancement to her combat skills. A "Light HIPS" character is more apt to use stealth primarily, breaking and running, backstabbing as their defense and offense may not be able to stand an onslaught from a strong melee fighter. The Heavy HIPS will place more equipment concentration on defense instead of going all out for stealth. There are three template builds for this class, Wei Ying Quan which is described below (Micro Shadow Fist) using a Strongheart Halfling, Ying Quan (Shadow Fist) which would use a human, and Mo Ying Quan (Demon Shadow Fist), which uses a Tiefling. In summary, the Human will lack some AC and attack bonus, but benefits by skipping the multiclass penalty that the Halfling gets in the second last level (only). It will be less stealthy but do more damage. Mo Ying Quan will share the same attack and defense benefits, but loses one feat over the halfling, so striking for a bit less accuracy (I would drop Weapon Focus), but doing more damage overall and being equivalently stealthy. I will describe Wei Ying Quan since it fits the design concept the best. Advantages: * high attack of 66 buffed, in particular for a stealth build * fully buffed, has 10 attacks per round using greater flurry: 66/66/66/61/56/51/46/41/66/66 ... * ability to debuff opponent's defense via Expose Weakness, and with very high dexterity, with epic gear can account for 13 damage per round * 5 rounds, and is able to stack 4 of these, making for a constant leak of 52 points of damage on the opponent. 5 Expose Weaknesses stacked equals a massive 15 points of Armor Class debuff. * high defense of AC65 (AC66 including Dodge) is further complimented with Epic Dodge, which causes the first hit in any round to fail, arguably better than concealment in some ways since it works off of already calculated hits. After defensive buffs, this is 69(70). * maxed out hide and move silently skills. An all-out stealth attacker "subtype" can be built by taking the Plant Domain for Mass Camouflage (+10 Hide) and taking kitten slippers to buff Move Silently. Otherwise it is graded as a medium-high stealth build, with the high dexterity (38 after epic equipment) buffing these feats considerably and the small size further benefiting hide, and halfling buffs to move silently. This allows Wei Ying Quan to vanish from all but the best stealth detectors. * weaponless combat means no suffering from disarm * ability to use Time domain to use Haste as well as Battletide, keeping a large number of additional attack / damage / defense buffs on hand, as well as gaining +4 to initiative rolls. * dexterity and wisdom based AC help defeat ranged touch attacks * built-in defenses rather than depending on buffs mean that this build can outlast those that depend on divine shield for being unhittable * monk fast movement plus haste plus battletide means that nobody is going to run away from you, and you will retain the ability to break off and run away from combat * sacred flames give 10 rounds of power punching, and in combination with this build's "light tank" defenses, allows it to attempt to go for knockouts in the short term, and afterwards fade from view and fight via surprise * six maxed skill scores also allows for high playability in the game setting by adding points to conversation skills, etc., without weakening the build considerably * mobile build is buffed vs. attacks of opportunity entering and leaving combat * can hide in plain sight very well, causing massive problems for those with low spot and listen skills, and negating dodge bonuses very effectively Disadvantages: * no divine feats mean that it will encounter damage resistance, and multiple "smaller" damage attacks vs. damage resistance can really bring down effectiveness * will not hide as well as a ranger due to no single target Camouflage spell, as Plant Domain only gives Mass Camouflage * one level of multiclass XP penalty in the build as-is, this can be addressed by dropping one monk and adding one sacred fist, or dropping one sacred fist and adding one cleric. * many hits / small damage approach can be defeated by builds with appropriate damage resistance * very high accuracy build can overwhelm the defenses, but the shadow fist always has the option of HIPS to run away and fight another day Character Creation Progression category:Character builds category:Power Builds category:Melee Character buildscategory: Unarmed Melee Character buildscategory:Divine Character buildscategory:Divine Spell Swords